Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop
The Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop, or more simply the Doodle, was a diner in New Haven, Connecticut that catered to the Yale community for 58 years before closing on January 28, 2008. The narrow restaurant, with only 12 stools arranged opposite a counter that ran the length of shop, was a favorite among students, faculty, and employees of the university. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Henry Winkler are said to have been regulars during their times at Yale.[1] The Doodle was known for its cheap but excellent food, especially the fried donut—an old fashioned donut cut down the middle, buttered, fried on the grill, and then re-buttered before serving.
History
Lew Beckwith Sr. opened the Doodle on April 15th, 1950, selling hamburgers for 20¢ each, cheeseburgers for 25¢, and pigs-in-a-blanket (hotdogs stuffed with American cheese and wrapped in bacon) for 30¢. Breakfast of two eggs, toast, juice, and coffee cost just 50¢. Without space for a deep fryer, French fries were not on the menu. The restaurant was named after the tune Lew's father sung to him as a boy.[2]
Other than the prices, the menu and the diner itself changed little in the intervening years. It closed with its original cash register still in use (which only could ring-up up to $2.00), and there was still even a cigarette machine in the corner. It hadn't actually been stocked in years, but it was installed on November 22, 1963, the day of the Kennedy assassination, so the Doodle kept it around.
Owership of the Doodle passed from Lew Beckwith Sr. to his son, Lew Beckwith Jr., and finally to grandson Rick Beckwith in 2000. In 2008, citing "economic considerations", Beckwith decided to close the Doodle. The New York Times quoted alumni Jonathan Zittrain, a professor at Oxford University, as saying, “It’s one of the few dynastic successions that I had hoped would never end.”[1] Vice president of the University, Bruce Alexander, said, "If they had been in one of [Yale's] properties, we would have made every effort to keep the business going so future generations of Yale students could enjoy the same pigs in blankets we did."[3]
Soon after the news got out, alumni and students began a movement to bring the Doodle back. A group of alumni has begun soliciting donations online through Facebook groups and the Doodle's website, www.thedoodle.com.[4]
Doodle Challenge
The Doodle Challenge was an eating contest to see how many burgers could be eaten in 2.5 hours. The Challenge was not a scheduled event, but rather at any time someone might walk into the Doodle and attempt the Challenge. If a new record was set, the burgers were free and the eater's name was added to plaque above the door. The Challenge started in 1989 when Ed Anderson, a Yalie ate 10 burgers. The last Yalie to hold the record was John Bockstoce with 26 burgers. The title is currently held by Tim "Eater X" Janus, an internationally ranked competitive eater, who ate 34 burgers on May 25th, 2006. The unofficial women's record is 23, set by Jessica Lynn Sheehan.[5][6]
References
- ^ a b A Coffee Shop Closes, and There’ll Be Sad Songs Down at Mory’s, Thomas Kaplan, New York Times, Jan 31, 2008.
- ^ Achived version of Doodle website, archive.org.
- ^ Yankee Doodle, unofficial greasy spoon of Yale, shuts its door, Mark Alden Branch, Yale Alumni Magazine, January 29, 2008.
- ^ Ayyar, Bharat & Patrick Lee. Alumni rally to resurrect the Doodle" The Yale Daily News, January 31 2008.
- ^ EatFeats.com: Doodle Burger].
- ^ Lunch of Champions, Ryan Nerz, Yale Alumni Magazine, July/August 2006.
External Links
- Official Website of the Yankee Doodle Coffee Shop
- Yankee Doodle’s Done, Melissa Bailey, New Haven Independent, January 29, 2008.
- After 57 years, the Doodle closes, Bharat Ayyar, Yale Daily News, January 30, 2008.
- Screw Darfur-Save the Doodle, Alexis Fitts, New Haven Advocate, Feb 7, 2008.